Take a deep breath

I’ve had to remind myself to do that a few times lately. Not because I suffer from constant shortness of breath or tend to experience random panic attacks. I have no physiological or psychological issues that suggest the need for this. Not that I’m aware of, anyway.

No, it’s simply because I get carried away with all this Liverpool stuff. This football. This idea about Liverpool FC winning the league, buying more boss players, getting back in the Champions League and beating Barcelona at Nou Camp. Fabregas, Iniesta, Neymar and Messi looking bewildered as their old friends return in a more youthful and exuberant wrapping – creating headlines that drop as gorgeous bombshells across Europe. You know, the usual fan routine. Set the brain to ‘manic’ and off we go.

Except it’s not usual and it’s not a routine. Far from it. At this point of the season I’m usually reaching the point of acceptance, working my way to towards solutions to what I once again recognise as a multi-dimensional problem in the world of LFC. It’s the player, the managers, the owners, Ian Ayre. No, it’s about time. And patience. That’s what we need. And players.

Now though, it feels like there’s nothing stopping us – except ourselves. I usually know there are at least three or four teams in the league who are better than us, on paper as well in reality. And it’s as if the players know it as well. That’s not the case this year. I look at body language, on the pitch and during interviews and press conferences, and I see belief and determination. And a sense of calm. They know they’re in the mix.

The weird thing is I keep forgetting we actually have some games left to play. Eleven of them to be precise. It’s as if the celebration and the planned assault on Europe next season has already started. Which is fine as long as the team keeps winning and racking up the points. It feeds the illusion and keeps me floating; nothing is stopping us now.

Then I look at the fixture list. It’s not an easy run-in. It really isn’t. Sobering, that’s what it is. Which is boring. I don’t like sobering thoughts. I prefer the highs, the dreams and the illusions. So I take my eyes off the fixture list and kill the negative thoughts in a flash. Positive thoughts, that’s what we need. It’s what the team needs.

There’s an old rule of thumb that says you have to challenge for it before you can win it. That may prove to be the case for Liverpool FC this season. Going from seventh to first in the Barclays Premier League is an outrageous achievement, unless you spend hundreds of millions. Everything about the established competitive balance suggests it’s virtually impossible.

I always thought it was a silly rule.